Is Social Media making us anti social?
No, I am not trying to answer headline of this blog, I am just attempting to give my inputs how social media has become part of our lives and how people are behaving on social media platforms.
One thing i would like to highlight is Social Media is not facebook, twitter and linkedin though these have become definition of social media. Social Media is a platform on which people express their views. Tomorrow anybody can come with some innovation in the way people express which will be more than likes, comments, Retweets etc.
Lets talk about nature of Facebook and twitter and LinkedIn to understand more about them. By nature i mean the way these three platforms behave. Facebook is more visual , Visual cues play important role when people express their views.You know research says blue color is soothing to eyes, it is calm in nature, hence Facebook color scheme is blue. Due to its nature it engages people in pictorial way which means people tend to post pictures on this platform. I loved one line somebody mentioned "The urge in the people to speak/express themselves is the reason of success of this social media". People want to tell about themselves, what they are doing at any given moment and want others to acknowledge it. Thats why more no of likes, comments gives people a high.
Twitter is a different phenomenon. In 140 characters, it forces people to write/express relevant. Text/word is a hero, people think high about usage of right words to express themselves. Hence it is more of text. If you are hyper active on twitter, people don't mind much as one tweets in less space and can tweet more in number however if a person is hyper active on Facebook , pressure of likes/comments makes him feel that people will not respond beyond one point.
Linkedin is a different animal altogether, it supposedly captures professional aspect of a person, his career, his connections. It is basically used by professionals and a kind of no- nonsense platform.
here is a catch, 3 major platforms, different nature! and a most of the people behave differently in all these platforms!
I am a different person in all the three platforms. By nature , i am a content creator not a passive reader. On facebook, i tend to write humor/witty lines as i like entertaining people, on twitter, i play a role of a observer where i tweet about my observations in any topic , be it advertising, brand, politics, bollywood, cricket, management etc. On linkedin, I like to read articles, participate in discussions apart from interacting with right people who have similar interests.
CAN A SINGLE PERSON BE DIFFERENT ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS?
In my perspective it is possible , provided you are reasonably active on all these platforms.
I have few other observations:
1. I am beginning to have perception that passive readers on these platforms are increasing.They would scroll down the page and like to read the content of others than posting their own.
2. Since the updates are real time, that gives other people a kick to read more about other peoples' post.
3. Social media platforms are acting a vent for the people to express their emotions & feelings.
4. These platforms are good for brand awareness not selling of product/service.
5. With the adding of people in their friend list, people believe they are in touch with each other, but that is not true, through these platforms people have become more accessible. People who spend more time on these platforms are increasingly becoming disconnected since they are not putting efforts on meeting people but interact on these platforms.
Facebook asks " What is on your mind"
Twitter asks " what is happening"
Whatsapp and BBM are too playing their role.
One of the professor in my college mentioned it to me once " Always make efforts to meet people, you will learn and unlearn"
And I thought I am in touch with people though this internet based platforms!!
Vikas Sachdeva
